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Re: Punishment or Rehabilitation?

I think punishment should be priority.Rehabilitation is something that should occur within the last year or 6 months of an offender's sentence.

"A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murder is less to fear"

Re: Punishment or Rehabilitation?

But honestly depends on the crime, if a man, who otherwise has lived a good life, never hurt anyone, comes home to find his wife in bed with another man... And he kills them.

If he lived a good life and would never hurt anyone other than the time he found his wife in bed with another another man does he really rehabilitation? Rehabilitation is the process of restoring someone to a useful and constructive place in society. Other than killing his wife who cheated on him and the guy she had an affair with,doesn't he already have a useful and constructive place in society?

"A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murder is less to fear"

Re: Punishment or Rehabilitation?

Originally Posted by digsbe

Should the goal of our justice system be punishment or rehabilitation of criminals? The number of prisoners has been drastically rising. It's expensive to incarcerate individuals, and I personally believe we would have a better society and a more productive justice system if rehabilitation took precedence over raw punishment. What do you think is more important? Please explain

I made a hypothetical poll a few ago on this forum to see if punishment mattered to anyone if it was possible to rehabilitate someone with a pill. It was kind of disturbing how many had no regard for the victims and felt that the offender should just be immediately released after taking the pill.

"A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murder is less to fear"

Re: Punishment or Rehabilitation?

Originally Posted by jamesrage

If he lived a good life and would never hurt anyone other than the time he found his wife in bed with another another man does he really rehabilitation? Rehabilitation is the process of restoring someone to a useful and constructive place in society. Other than killing his wife who cheated on him and the guy she had an affair with,doesn't he already have a useful and constructive place in society?

A fair point.

I would argue that he should be incarcerated for a period of time.

But after killing in such a way, I do think you would need some kind of rehabilitation to change your state of mind.

Re: Punishment or Rehabilitation?

Originally Posted by digsbe

Should the goal of our justice system be punishment or rehabilitation of criminals? The number of prisoners has been drastically rising. It's expensive to incarcerate individuals, and I personally believe we would have a better society and a more productive justice system if rehabilitation took precedence over raw punishment. What do you think is more important? Please explain

It should be based around rehabilitation for the most part. Give people the skills and therapy they need to be a peaceful productive part of society. For those who can't, lock them away from society. Don't do it to punish, though - do it because they can't control their anti-social impulses.

Re: Punishment or Rehabilitation?

But after killing in such a way, I do think you would need some kind of rehabilitation to change your state of mind.

dated a girl in college. her mother's husband killed his ex-wife after years of emotional abuse and blackmail. the day of the killing, they had been to court. he wrote her a check for $20K and she agreed to stop hassling him over visitation with their kids. 15 minutes after they left the courtroom, she called him and told him that she didn't give a **** what the judge said, he was never going to see his kids again. he flipped out, drove over to her apartment and broke her neck.

how is it possible to "rehabilitate" him? he spent the better part of 20 years in prison. that was pure and simple punishment. he needed no rehabilitation, since the source of his "problem" no longer existed.